A Time of Anarchy, after 1666.
We are indebted to Pedro Mendes for an account of the history of Kongo from the death of D. Antonio in 1666 to the beginning of the eighteenth century.374 During that time, according to this authority, there were fourteen Kings of Kongo, of whom four were beheaded (or killed) by the Musurongo, five by the Ezikongo, three died a natural death, and two were survivors when he wrote, namely, D. Pedro IV, at Salvador, and D. João at Mbula.375 At one time there were actually three kings in the field.
Alvaro VII, a royal prince who had passed his early life in retirement, but who, on being raised to the throne, turned out a monster of iniquity, was killed by his own subjects, abetted by the Count of Sonyo (1666), under whose auspices took place the election of his successor, D. Alvaro VIII (1666-70), who was in turn removed by the Marquis of Mpemba. Alvaro VIII376 had allowed the Portuguese to search for gold, but this search turned out as fruitless as the search for silver at Kambambe. Meanwhile D. Affonso III Affonso had been proclaimed at Kibangu, the new capital (1667), whilst D. Pedro III nsukia ntamba was put up as an opposition King in Mbula. The latter defeated his rival, who fled beyond the Mbiriji (Ambriz), and died there (of poison?). His widow, D. Anna, a daughter of a former King, Garcia, retired to Nkondo (Mucondo), and survived her husband until 1680. The people proclaimed D. Garcia III nenganga mbemba377 his successor, whilst the opposition, at the old capital (S. Salvador), declared D. Daniel de Guzman, descendant of Mpanzu (Alvaro I), to be the rightful King. D. Daniel took the field against D. Garcia III, but, before he reached the residence of that King, he was overtaken by D. Pedro of Mbula; his army was dispersed, and himself beheaded. His children sought refuge with the Count of Sonyo, and by treachery they succeeded in getting D. Pedro into their power, and killed him. The people of Mbula thereupon raised his brother, D. João, to the throne, who survived until after 1710. S. Salvador, after D. Daniel had deserted it, became the haunt of wild beasts.
Meanwhile D. Rafael, Marquis of Mpemba, who had been proclaimed King some time anterior to this, had been obliged to seek refuge among the Portuguese, and his reinstatement was one of the objects of the disastrous expedition of 1670,378 by which it was sought to punish Count Estevão da Silva of Sonyo for his desecration of Christian churches and the ill-treatment of Portuguese traders: or, rather, his dealings with heretic competitors.
João Soares de Almeida, the commander of this expedition, had with him five hundred Portuguese, supported by a strong force of native allies, among whom was a Jaga Kalandula. He won a battle, in which Estevão was killed; but Pedro, the brother of the unfortunate Count, rallied the forces of Sonyo, unexpectedly fell upon the Portuguese near the Mbiriji (Ambriz),and scarcely a man among them escaped. Count Pedro then expelled the Italian Capuchins, who were supposed to be friendly to Portugal, and invited in their stead Belgian members of the same Order, who arrived in September, 1673, under the lead of P. Wouters. But, having been accused of stopping the rain, and having in reply excommunicated the Count, they were speedily expelled.379 Peace between Sonyo and Portugal was only restored in 1690, when the former promised to abolish idolatry and to sell no slaves to heretics.
It was about this period (between 1669 and 1675) that Francisco do Murça, the captain-major of Dande, visited S. Salvador, and proceeded thence to Mbata and the Kwangu, where he was told that this river flowed through the kingdom of the Makoko, and entered the sea at Mpinda, a fact long before known to the missionaries. These latter had not quite abandoned the Kongo, notwithstanding these troubles, and in 1668 the Capuchins still occupied their monasteries at the capital of Mbamba and at Mpembu;380 whilst Girolamo Merolla (1682-88) and Antonio Zucchelli steadily laboured (1700-02) in Sonyo and Luangu.381
D. Andre succeeded D. Garcia, but died after a short reign. D. Manuel nzinga elenge, a descendant of Mpanzu, was duly elected, but expelled by the sons of the late D. Garcia, who raised Alvaro IX to the throne in his stead. This prince was never recognised by the Count of Sonyo, who looked upon D. Manuel, who had sought refuge with him, as the legitimate King. He was reinstated by him for a time, but ultimately fell into the power of his enemies, and was beheaded.
Alvaro IX was succeeded in 1694 by his brother Pedro IV nsanu a mbemba, also known as agoa rosada,382 who once more returned to the ancient capital. He and D. João of Mbula were the only Kings alive in 1701, when the Capuchin Friar Francisco de Pavia, and his colleague Friar João Maria went throughout the kingdom of Kongo, preaching peace, and calling upon the leading men to recognise D. Pedro as their King; and thus put an end to quarrels which had distracted the country for an entire generation.